Those behind the bizarre incident left a cross in place of the statue with the words ‘YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME’.

Mr Sutton said they had a job on their hands when removing it. and he doesn’t believe the culprits did it as a prank.

“It took too much effort because you can see where they tried to saw it off at the beard, the neck and the arms,” said Mr. Sutton. “They obviously went to some effort, but they shot themselves in the foot. I don’t think they realised there would be such a backlash. Everybody was talking about it. They obviously didn’t think it through.”